Remove an effect by hitting ‘Undo’ or tap
and hold the button to reinstate the effect you’ve just removed.

Swatch shop

Touch the sparkly icon on the main screen
to access iPhoto’s selection of effects swatches.

Fan options

Tapping the hinge of the ‘swatch’ when
you’re in a particular effect returns you to the full fan of options.

Vital info

Device: iPhone/iPad

Difficult: beginner

Time required: 45 mins

What you need:

·iOS 5.1 or later

·iPhoto ($4.50)

You could say the effects palette is iPhoto
equivalent of the dressing-up box: a cursory rummage reveals options for
creating arty black-and-white looks, those Lomography-inspired hipster-ish
styles that are so popular with Instagram aficionados, or adorable
toytown-seeming tilt-shift effects. You can also mimic the effect of analogue
photography by adding grain, or take things truly retro with vignettes.

But effects isn’t all about mimicking the
photographic tropes of bygone eras: there are also options that offer real
potential for transforming run-of-the-mill photographs into something far more
striking through subtle colour modifications. And the results you’ll find here
will give anything you can find in the Color Balance palette a run for its
money.

And while the options don’t approach the
sophistication of what you can achieve with Photoshop, there’s enough choice
here to give even quite demanding amateur photographers the power to jazz up
their photos. Best of all, effects are incredibly simple and quick to apply.

Step-by-step guide: the styling suite

Step 1 – Blowing hot and cold

Step
1 – Blowing hot and cold

Even a simple shift in the tonal palette of
your photos can radically change the feel of an image: the Warm & Cool
swatch is your destination for experimenting with this. Dragging your finger
left and right along the swatch changes shifts the photo’s tonal range.

Step 2 – A shady world

Step
2 – A shady world

The Duotone option strips out the colour
range from your image, replacing it with shades of particular colour. Think
sepia, but in purple, green or beige. Pressing the colour wheel icon brings in
subtle colours from your image – this works best on photos with a wide range of
colours.

Step 3 – Shades of grey

Step
3 – Shades of grey

You might think there’s only one type of
black and white, but you’d be wrong. The Black & White palette offers an
impressive selection of options at various exposures, while the buttons to the
right add old-school vignette effects, a film-grain effect for ‘classic photo’
points, and a sepia effect.

Step 4 – Selected highlights

Step
4 – Selected highlights

The aura palette takes the brightest
colours in the palette and allows you to dial them right up – or turn them all
the way down, while easing the rest of the image towards monochrome. On the
right type of picture this is brilliant for creating moody, unusual results.

Step 5 – Beyond retro

Step
5 – Beyond retro

Next comes the Vintage swatch. iPhoto
offers a small palette of convincing retro film effects, with none of the naff
fake scratches you get on some of the retro iPhone photography apps. These
range from the subtle to the garish, and work best on photos with wide colour
ranges.

Step 6 – The arty bits

Step
6 – The arty bits

The easiest way to explain the artistic
panel migh be that it gets steadily more abstract as you move to the right,
ranging from small colour adjustments to all-out paint effects that mimic oil
paint or watercolour media – although the latter is more pop-art than dainty
watercolour painting.